1878 Calendar

January 4, 1878 – Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.

January 9, 1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.

January 24, 1878 – The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.

February 18, 1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

February 21, 1878 – The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

June 4, 1878 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.

June 10, 1878 – League of Prizren is established, to oppose the decisions of the Congress of Berlin and the Treaty of San Stephano, as a consequence of which the Albanian lands in Balkans were being partitioned and given to the neighbor states of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece.

July 13, 1878 – Treaty of Berlin: the European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.

September 3, 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat SS Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.

October 15, 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.

January 11, 1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general (d. 1952)

January 30, 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)

February 1, 1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak politician (d. 1944)

February 6, 1878 – Walter B. Pitkin, American lecturer (d. 1953)

February 8, 1878 – Martin Buber, Austrian-born Israeli philosopher (d. 1965)

April 27, 1878 – Frank Alvin Gotch, American professional wrestler (d. 1917)

June 6, 1878 – Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, French criminal attorney (d. 1956)

August 17, 1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)

October 16, 1878 – Maxie Long, American athlete (d. 1959)

December 15, 1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)